That Awkward Moment You Know You Have Hit Entrepreneurial Puberty

There is no singular secret to success — we all know that — but there are inflection points.

One thing that always perplexed me about business (especially in the online world) was how it seemed like some people on the scene became much acclaimed.

Take Tai Lopez, for example. Lopez is a good example of someone who you are just like, “ …where did you come from?!”

Me, on the other hand? I was just writing away in my dark room, getting precisely zero readers every single day for years.

Then, a few of my pieces got traction.

It was not because of any specific plan, to be honest. It was just the result of repeatedly swinging the axe at the same tree over and over, but there is a catch here!

The Moment You Know You Have Hit Entrepreneurial Puberty …

Assuming you are doing the right things (working on projects you care about, being meticulous about getting the word out, constantly improving the quality of your work) … you will eventually hit an “inflection point.”

It is kind of like puberty — spontaneous, unavoidable, usually uneven growth that can change everything, overnight.

The inflection point could come from an article, video or podcast that goes viral.

It could come from an influencer who finds your idea/product/service and tells their audience.

It could come because of a discovery you make which introduces something entirely new to the world.

It is often an accident.

It is often the result of something you did not think was a big deal at the time.

But your inflection point will occur with enough time in the game. You will break through. It is just a rule of the Universe. Everyone gets this opportunity.

When that happens, be ready and recognize the opportunity for what it is.

The inflection point is your opportunity to take control of your trajectory and make sure that your message gets out there.

If you are not prepared to have the attention of the whole world on you, then when you get it for 15 minutes, you will squander it! Do not risk losing the momentum. Pounce on it relentlessly.

There are 2 amazing things about inflection points:

If you capitalize on them, your business (and your life) will never be the same. There is no “un-doing” the growth that being featured in major online platforms like TIME, Fortune, Entrepreneur, The Huffington Post, Fox News, Business Insider, Thought Catalog and Inc. has given me or Rich20Something (the other arm of Under30CEO. Now, my job is to build on top of that. But we will never be “unknown” again.

Inflection points can result in quantum leaps for your goals. In many cases, this is the closest you can really get to “overnight success”. Case in point for us was Instagram, which as a key driver in Rich20Something going from 5,000 to 100,000 subscribers in 8 months. Completely unplanned, but absolutely game changing.

You guys know that consistency is the key. But what you might think is that consistency with your ideas will only bring slow, linear growth.

The reason I preach consistency so hard is because if you practice it for long enough, you will not just experience the standard linear growth — but also the exponential, crazy “overnight” growth of inflection points if you stick around long enough.

Something to think about here: you need both luck (inflection points) and hard work (consistency) to reach real success.

You must have both, no matter what order they arrive in.

If you get lucky early on in the game and “blow up,” you are going to need to work very hard to maintain that momentum. If not, you will see a quick spike and nothing more. Even if you are the world’s hardest worker, you have to be savvy enough to recognize the inflection points when the come along … otherwise all the hard work will be for nothing.